


Thermos

by Chubbidust



Category: Ninjala
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, I gave van's mom and dog names so i wouldn't go nuts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:27:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27032668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chubbidust/pseuds/Chubbidust
Summary: Perhaps Van's mother underestimated just how affected by the housefire her son was.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Thermos

“...Hey, mom?”

“Hm? Yes, Van?”

“Can I...sleep over for tonight?”

Shelby was quietly reading a book as she prepared herself for bed, when the young voice called out to her from a crack in the doorway. She looked up and brushed back her orange and purple hair with a hand as she glanced over to the door, spying her young son Van awkwardly standing there and fiddling with his shirt in the dim lamp light. He had long since showered and brushed his teeth, so he was dressed in his orange and white pajamas. The real question was- why on Earth was he still awake? His bedtime was over an hour and a half ago.

Van’s mother leaned back against the pillows on her bed with a sigh, glancing back at her book. The plot was moving like a sloth, anyway.

“Van, dear, why are you still awake?” She asked, sparing him another glance as he slowly stepped closer to her. “I know you’re a ninja, but growing boys still need their rest- no matter how cool they are.”

“Um…” Van stuttered as he slowly rocked on his heels, green eyes flickering to anywhere but Shelby’s own. “I couldn’t sleep. It’s too cold in my room. And Chompy’s snoring really loud tonight.”

Shelby had been in Van’s room countless times over the years as he grew up, and never once did he complain it was too cool in there. Rather, he would whine the opposite, the boy often begging his mother for a small fan in the summer months. So Van was clearly lying, but what did he have to gain for it? Did he sneak away again? Perhaps he snuck into a horror film while he was out and was too scared to sleep alone, he’d been going on and on about an R rated monster film advertised everywhere recently. 

Ever since he learned of his ninja heritage, the young boy began sneaking off at random points of the day to do who knows what. One time when grilling the boy for answers, the only thing he would utter would be “space alien ninjas” and nothing else. He’d assure Shelby time and time again that he always had Genyrusai’s supervision, but that did little to ease her mind. It gave Shelby a heart attack for sure, not knowing when her son would return, but she knew that as a concerned mother with no Shinobi ancestry, there wasn’t much she could do. As much as she wasn’t a fan of Genryusai, she trusted that he was capable of keeping her child safe.

Still, she accepted his excuse with a small hum. Sleep-kicker or not, she couldn’t deny him sleeping in her bed for _one_ night.

Closing her book, Shelby reached and tucked it under her bed before holding out her hand to Van, pulling the boy into the warm bed sheets with her once he clasped it. Van took no time to wrap himself up tightly, distancing himself a small space away from Shelby as he laid down on one of the pillows and shut his eyes. Naturally, Shelby scooted herself closer and happily ran her fingers through his purple and white hair, earning an annoyed _“Mooooooom”_ as Van forced her mischievous hand away. His grumpy pout was still as cute as when he was five, freckles and all.

Shelby chuckled as she reached over to the lamp on the bedside table, twisting the knob and letting the room go pitch black, save for the moonlight peeking through the curtains.

“Goodnight, Van.” She whispered in a gentle voice, pulling the bedsheets to her chest. She quickly peered over to her son and confirmed he was equally as covered.

“‘Night, mom.” She received a muffled reply back, the boy’s face stuffed into one of the pillows. Glad he was comfortable.

Once she laid down onto her own pillow, Shelby began to ponder upon the recent events within the last couple weeks or so. So much had occurred so quickly, it had been a whirlwind trying to keep up. One moment, Van was a sweet, normal boy with a rising potential towards a basketball career. The next, he was a ninja being treated for smoke inhalation. Granted, his case was extremely mild so he was cleared rather fast, but the ninja part was what had his mom worried. He wasn’t supposed to know until he was twelve! It was just two years! Couldn’t he have had a little more time to just be a young, naive child?

 _He was forced to grow too soon_ , Shelby noted with a huff as she stared up at the ceiling. Getting the details from the police that awful night was horrifying, to say the least. Her little baby that she still saw as that same bundle of joy she took home ten years ago, had been trapped in a house fire with his father. Hearing the policeman on the phone utter such words sent Shelby into a panic, the woman could barely breathe. Thankfully, she didn’t pass out before she heard the words ‘he’s alive and being transported to the hospital as we speak’. 

She was out the door so fast.

And when she got there, she had the _biggest_ lecture she had ever prepared to dish upon her young son, but that all died in her throat when she saw his soot-covered face. After seeing that, the tears behind her eyes spilled and she had no other option than to hug her son, crying and begging him to never scare her like that again for the rest of his life. She begged and begged and begged and he didn’t say a word, just hugging her back with a blank glare in his shaken eyes.

Of all the ways he was to find out about being a ninja, this was the worst outcome. A cold, sour bitterness poisoned Shelby’s heart when Genryusai came and demanded Van to hone his ninja skills in exchange for his father’s protection. He knew Van would say yes. She knew Van would say yes. But she wished he didn’t, yet she understood why he did.

Van was a sweet, sweet, _naive_ boy.

Years of his life would go into becoming a proper ninja, rather than relying on powers within the supposed ‘ninja gum’ to help him. When would he have time to play basketball? Play video games? Play with his friends? Training, training, training. That’s all they did. He was too young, he needed more time to make a more educated decision for his life. Would he ever become the basketball star he dreamed of being since he was three? Hell, the world was already so dangerous, especially now that he was delving into the secret world full of ninjas. Would he even live long enough to become one?

Shelby closed her eyes, allowing just one tear to slip down her cheek. She fretted too much for her son’s future. But wasn’t that her job as a mother? She couldn’t help her concern.

Nevertheless, she was powerless for the most part. However, she could still be a supportive mother. Ninja or not, Van was a young child and Shelby knew he would be counting on her more than ever. While Genryusai may have been his guardian in one sense, she would always be the one Van went to for more serious, personal troubles. Ninja masters don’t give hugs or kisses goodnight, or make a young ninja’s favorite meal when they’re having a bad day. Though Van was at the age where all affection was embarrassing and something to barf over, Shelby knew he appreciated every bit of it.

With one more look back over to her son’s sleeping face, Shelby relaxed the tension within her body and let sleep wash away her consciousness.

* * *

Shelby jolted awake. It was early morning.

Somebody was in her bed.

Before panic managed to set in, memories from hours earlier came rushing back and she relaxed. However, before she fully let herself go back to sleep, she looked over to her side and realized the cause of her alertness.

The ‘Somebody’ in her bed was sitting up, awake when he shouldn’t be.

Shelby internally groaned, running a hand over her tired face and pinching the bridge of her nose. Why was Van awake so early in the morning? Why couldn’t he just sleep for a couple hours longer? She had work in the morning, she needed to be in tip-top shape t-....

Shelby’s thoughts ceased for just a split second, her ears listening carefully for the sound she just heard-

Yes, okay. Van was crying.

Oh no, no, no. Why was he crying?

“...Van?” She whispered cautiously, thick sleepiness still attached to her voice yet the concern was all there.

As if her voice were a switch, the noises went silent. Yet, moments later, she could hear the awful sound of breathing through a snotty nose.

“Van, sweetheart, I know you’re awake.” Shelby sighed, sitting up to turn the lamp back on as her motherly instincts kicked on.

Once light was present in the room, Van’s mother let her eyes adjust and took a moment to go over a mental checklist. Bed was still dry and he hadn’t hurt himself in his sleep in almost a year, so all that was left was…

She looked down at Van’s hands. Both of them were white-knuckled, gripping tight on the bed sheets. She then looked up at what little of his face she could see since he was turned away, and noticed tears dripping from the bottom of his chin. His arms were tense, shoulders hunched and trembling.

Shelby’s arms instinctively reached out to Van for just a moment but faltered right before they made contact. Van was ten and approaching eleven. Feelings were starting to get a bit complicated for him. Peer pressure says affection is gross and silly, especially from a mother. Did he want a hug right now?

...Of course he did.

In one quick motion rehearsed many times over the years, Shelby pulled Van to her side before he knew what hit him, wrapping an arm tightly around his waist to prevent the boy from pulling away. The most he did was let out a small gasp at the unexpected action, looking up at his mom with a quizzical yet slightly annoyed expression amidst his tears, as if he would’ve rather been left alone. Shelby knew better than that.

“Do you wanna talk about it, Van?” She asked in a quiet voice, raising her hand from Van’s waist to his mid-back, rubbing it in comforting circles.

 _“No.”_ He lowered his head and furrowed his brow with a small sniff, replying in a low and bitter tone. He made no attempt to escape from his mother’s hold, electing to instead lean into her side and stare at his tightly balled fists in his lap.

“Okay.” Shelby wasn’t going to make him say a single word. She rested her chin on top of Van’s head, one hand rubbing the boy’s back and the other grasping his cold, wet hands. It wasn’t cold in the room at all, yet he was shivering so much.

Shelby pulled up the covers just a tad bit, though it didn’t accomplish much.

“What’s being a ninja like?” She asked after several moments of silence, the question serving more as an opportunity to distract Van from whatever he was thinking of rather than a conversation starter.

That didn’t work as she’d hoped, unfortunately. Instead of his eyes lighting up and his voice chattering on and on about the cool new ninja things he’s done, the boy just stared off at nothing in particular with a hard expression, tears still streaking down his red cheeks. Mentioning ninjas was a no-go for now, apparently.

Shelby hummed, moving her hand that was clasped in Van’s up towards his face, tenderly wiping away the tears that slipped from his eyes. Despite the neverending flow, she still would cup his cheek and rub them away with her thumb in a comforting, repetitive motion. Anything to get him to stop crying, even for a moment.

They continued sitting on the bed like that for minutes upon minutes, Van silently leaning into his mother’s touch as she quietly comforted him. His sniffles eventually slowed, the chills that would cause his hands and body to shake steadily fading away. It pained Shelby seeing her son like this, but what hurt her even more was not knowing what she could’ve done to prevent it.

“...Mom?” Van murmured in a tiny voice, somehow appearing so much smaller than usual.

“Do ninjas get hurt like dad did a lot?”

Shelby paused, choosing her answer very carefully, “...None that I know of. Why do you ask?”

“...’Cause. I think about it sometimes.” Van muttered, staring intensely down at his fists, “Dad got really hurt.”

Shelby hummed again with a tight-lipped frown, moving her hand back from his face to his hands. There wasn’t an easy way to sugarcoat that. “He did. He did get hurt.”

“...” She watched as Van tensed for a moment, something flashing across the boy’s bright green eyes.

“I saw him get hurt. His canoe- it came and it crushed him. It almost hurt me, too.”

 _He’s recounting the fire,_ Shelby noted. She recalled the doctor mentioning some internal injuries Van’s father had sustained due to the ‘possibility’ of him being crushed. Van’s comments only confirm that.

“The fire was terrifying, wasn’t it?” Shelby sighed, lightly kissing the top of Van’s head. She didn’t know whether or not to keep this conversation going, she didn’t want her son to stress himself out anymore than he was doing already.

Van nodded, burrowing himself deep into his mother’s side. He gave a shuddering breath, wiping at the quickly returning tears in his eyes. However, it was to no avail, as they again began flowing down to his chin despite his efforts. He was already so dehydrated as it was, crying so much wasn’t good for him…

Now that Shelby thought about it, it was uncharacteristic of Van to be so distraught over one nightmare. Van didn’t cry much in general, the boy usually keeping his head high except only after a bitter basketball game loss. Or when he got grounded after a bad day. He didn’t cry this much unless truly upset by something, which means…

...Perhaps Shelby underestimated just how affected Van was by the fire incident.

“Van.” She called out to him, watching his face as he looked up at her with his wide eyes and snotty nose, “Sweetheart, how often do you think about the fire that happened some weeks ago?”

“...” He glanced away, staring off into the room at nothing in particular. He gave another shuddery breath, lip trembling ever so slightly as his fists grew white.

“Have you been having nightmares about it?” Shelby asked, trying her hardest to hide her worry so she wouldn’t get him anymore worked up.

A moment passed before Van slowly nodded, lip trembling even more as he gritted his teeth, furiously wiping away the seemingly endless tears starting to pour from his eyes. A sob tore through his throat, chest heaving hard as the dam finally began to burst.

Shelby was quick to pull her son into a tight embrace, humming a soft melody as he cried into her chest. Just like before, she rested her chin on his head, circling her hand across his back to help ease his sobs. She then gently grabbed onto one of Van’s fists, letting his tense white fingers relax onto her palm as she rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. Throughout all of this, she wondered just how long Van had been dreaming about the incident, realizing how traumatizing it all must have been for him.

“Oh, Van…” She exhaled as she idly combed her other hand through his hair, frowning heavier every second Van kept going. It was appalling to see her own son so distraught, but it tore Shelby up inside, knowing that he’d been suffering for weeks. Almost a month. Her sweet little child had been struggling with the memories of such a horrific, life changing incident, and she didn’t realize just how affected he was from it. Had tonight been the night he’d thought he could get away from the nightmares, if he’d just sleep next to her? If that were the case, fate chose to be a cruel jokester.

It felt like hours before Van was able to even remotely begin to calm down, the boy still sniveling and hiccuping as his sobs mellowed. His face was incredibly red, freckle-dotted and tear covered cheeks an even rosier shade. One of his hands was still clasped in her own, while the other weakly clenching to a bit of Shelby’s pajama shirt. He must have been so exhausted by now.

Shelby again reached to wipe the tears on his cheeks away, less and less of them coming to replace the ones before until there were none left. She then pressed her lips to Van’s forehead in a gentle kiss, rubbing his back one more time as she thought about her next course of action.

“...Is it my fault?” Van croaked out with a crack in his voice, staring up at her with a discernible sadness to his eyes.

“Is what your fau- **_No,_ ** Van.” Shelby interrupted herself, upset he would ever come to such a conclusion. She grabbed both of his hands and held them with a firm grip, looking right back at him. “Your father getting injured was _never_ your fault, _ever_. Do you understand me? You did nothing to cause this.”

Van was quiet for a moment, staring at their hands in contemplation. He opened and closed his mouth several times as he struggled to piece together what he wanted to say. Finally, in a faint whisper, he asked-

“...Then why do m-my dreams keep saying I ki...killed him?”

He hiccuped, shaking his head as his mind recalled every one of his dreams since that fateful night.

“He dies every time and it keeps saying it’s my fault ‘cause I was supposed to d-... I killed him and he’s dead forever and he _won’t wake u-”_

“Van- _hey-”_ Shelby interrupted, cupping his cheek with a hand and staring him deep in his eyes as she pulled him back to reality, “Your father hasn’t passed away, okay? He’s fine. He’s in the hospital and he’s recovering. He’s _okay._ You both are okay. Neither of you were supposed to pass away that night. _”_

Van couldn’t stop shaking. He knew that his dad was okay, of course he was. But every time those horrific nightmares occurred, or when he passed by his dad’s crumbled remains of a house, or even when just looking at _fire_ , his mind would have a hard time remembering that. Over and over.

“D-Does…” Van swallowed thickly, sniffing one more time, “Does dad get nightmares, too?”

Shelby nodded with a sad smile, rubbing her thumb across her son’s hand as his horrifying comments ran through her mind, “Power of shinobi or not- everyone has nightmares, Van. I do, your dad does...Maybe even your master, Genryusai has them.”

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed.

“Yep.” She nodded, but then she frowned, “Listen, Van. Nightmares happen, but sometimes they occur when something really big and terrifying happens to someone. And sometimes...when that big and terrifying thing happens, it can be hard for someone to shake off.”

She glanced down at their hands, noting how relaxed Van’s hands were compared to just minutes before. She looked up at his face, smiling internally at how attentive he was.

“When things are hard to shake off...sometimes people go and see ‘mind doctors’ to help them process it. This can help them get rid of their nightmares, or not be as scared of whatever happened to them.”

“Do ninjas see mind doctors?” Van quickly interjected, a sudden sparkle to his eye.

Shelby chuckled, “Of course they do. Powerful ninjas, like you, sometimes need to see ‘mind doctors’, or therapists, to help themselves work through something that happened to them.”

Van took one of his hands to wipe at his wet cheeks, shifting in his seat to be more comfortable. He wasn’t shaking nearly as much as before, though there was still a slight tremble to his voice.

“So...So if I go see a...a thermos-”

“Therapist.”

“-therapist, the nightmares will stop?”

Shelby nodded, “Hopefully, yes. It may take a while before they fully go away, but it can happen. Do you want to go to one?”

Van yawned, absentmindedly playing with their clasped hands, “...Yeah.”

“Alright.” Shelby made a mental note to begin her search for one in the morning, specifically a therapist well versed in everything about ninjas to better connect with him.

After a couple moments of quietly sitting in each other’s presence, Shelby began to pull the blankets from her lap and got up from the bed.

“You want some water, sweetie?”

Receiving a small nod as an answer, Van’s mother stepped out of the room and retrieved two glasses of water from the kitchen just a few rooms away. The water was cold, the few ice cubes within each glass clinking against each other as she made her way back to the room. She kept her pace quick, wanting to get Van to sleep while it was still night.

By the time she made it back to her room, a furry surprise had placed itself in her spot on her bed. Chompy, the white bearded collie with purple pants.

Van had named the dog when he was six, and thus was closer to it than anyone else. Shelby always commanded the dog off of any and all furniture within their house, so they had a bit of a...rivalry, as weird as that sounds. What kind of normal person has a rivalry with an animal, of all things? But Shelby swore that dog had some form of intelligence, and it was out to make her life a living hell.

With a jingle of the bell on his collar, Chompy turned his head to face Shelby. The dog’s eyes were obscured by the long strands of hair on his head, but she knew all too well the kind of expression he had on. And she _hated_ it.

She had moved in so quickly, ready to demand the dog to leave the bed immediately, but was ultimately cut off by the sight of him gently licking a sleeping Van’s cheek. Her little boy was lying on the bed, snoozing peacefully with one arm wrapped around Chompy’s lower back. No nightmares currently in sight.

Chompy turned back to stare at Shelby, huffing lightly as if offended she’d _dare_ consider making him move from this bed and disturb her precious son. He knew she would never do such a thing.

Shelby gave a defeated sigh, realizing she’d lost this round. He was right, Van was sleeping so soundly after such a rough night and it genuinely seemed the dog’s presence was helping. She didn’t want to make things any harder on him.

Still, she had some power.

“Move to the other side, at least. You took my place.” She almost begged, just wanting to get some sleep.

As if sensing her desire for no pointless battles that night, Chompy let out another huff and slowly moved from his spot under Van’s arm. The dog stepped over Van’s body, careful not to disturb the slumbering boy as he made himself comfortable in his new sleeping spot. Then, he looked over at Shelby expectantly, as if expecting some form of gratitude when he _shouldn’t even be on the bed in the first place._

Shelby pinched the bridge of her nose and roughly exhaled from her nostrils, choosing to just drink one glass of water and place the other on the nightstand for Van to drink later. She wasn’t going to fight with a dog.

Turning out the lamp, Shelby let the light in the room flicker away as she tucked herself back in bed, pulling the covers both over herself and Van.

With one last kiss to his forehead, Shelby let herself lay down and begin falling back into the streams of unconsciousness.

“Goodnight, Van. I love you.”

…

…

Chompy let out a low, odd sounding whine.

“...Goodnight, Chompy. I love you, too.”

A huff. He was satisfied.


End file.
